My Search for Ancient Wisdom: One Prisoner’s Journey of Transformation

In what may seem an unlikely pairing, Rev. Dr. Mary E. Mitchell and Dr. Michael J. Nichols share more than a decade of correspondence focused on spirituality in the harsh setting of a Missouri maximum-security prison. Mitchell, an ordained Centers for Spiritual Living minister, and Nichols, a felon sentenced to life without parole, share letters remarkable in their candor and insightful in the possibilities inherent in every soul. Within these pages, you will find morsels of wisdom from Nichols’s transformative journey. If the central question of American jurisprudence is whether criminals can be rehabilitated, then these letters demonstrating Nichols’s own search for spiritual wisdom offer a resounding yes.

Rev. Dr. Mary Mitchell has had a fascinating career in wood products, environmental restoration, and metaphysical ministry. Her passion is metaphysical studies and teaching Science of Mind classes. Today, Dr. Mary focuses on her ministry, writing, and recording a weekly radio program, where she reviews her favorite books. She lives in Cottonwood, California, with her husband, Paul, and two tabby cats.

Dr. Michael J. Nichols entered prison at nineteen years of age, as a high school graduate, gifted trombone player, and avid reader. During more than twenty-nine years of incarceration, he had antagonistic incidents against co-opted prisoners and overweening correctional officers. Today at age fifty, he has purged his gangster influence through spiritual and historical studies, discipline, and mental strength. He meets confrontation and anger with a different spirit and a humane smile. He continues to apply for parole.